Isolated ecosystem
Posted 04-23-2009 at 06:13 PM by raeanna74
I love it up here. This area is so unique. It's completely different from any of the surrounding areas. Even from areas as close as 15-20 miles in any direction. For starters...
This past week we had no snow on the ground as of Sunday. Come Tuesday afternoon we had 21" of snow and I was walking home in snow that came to my ankles. When I came to snow drifts it was even deeper. Now most of the snow is gone but there's still a solid blanket covering the grass almost completely.
Also, yesterday we were outside putting on the roof on our new shed and we turned to find a deer standing in the middle of our back yard considering us. He/she loped away without a concern in the world and stopped when it got to a neighbors yard across the street.
ALSO, on the way home from school/work I heard a loon calling. I turned to look at the lake across the road from the school playground and saw there, circling in the water not far from shore, a loon. It was calling repeatedly to it's family. It was not the fear, call, or the call that they use to talk to babies, it was that long call followed by several short ones used to call to families or to communicate to loons on nearby lakes. It was amazing to hear and see a loon right in the middle of "town".
One the way home today I saw turkeys (which I see often), and a ruffed grouse.
To top it off last fall there was talk of a wolf being seen in a back yard in the middle of town.
Then, also included in our little 'ecosystem' are pigeons that live in the old community building/opera house only a block away from us, and seagulls that are flying around nearly all day. There's the lake in town, there's the woods outside of town, and only 5 miles away there's Ottawa National forest. Only 30 minutes away is Porcupine Mountains with Cloud lake and MANY large waterfalls stepping down on their way to Lake Superior.
Where else in the world can you find Loons, Pigeons, Wolves, Whitetail Deer, Turkeys, Turkey Vultures, Ruffed Grouse, Black Bear, Bald Eagles, Coyotes, Red Tailed Foxes, Piliated Woodpeckers (the largest woodpecker species), Porcupines, Quail, Mountains, Waterfalls (albeit 30 minutes away), Lakes, Forests and even Moose and Elk and they're all in our area. When it snows anywhere in Northern Wisconsin or the Upper Peninsula we always seem to get some too and we almost always get more than anywhere around within 15-20 miles of our township. There are over 500 Timber Wolves in the Upper Peninsula. This past fall our County held a predator season for Wolves and Coyotes.
It's facinating what wildlife we can find so close to home and yet we have all the basic necessities right here in town within walking distance. I LOVE IT!
This past week we had no snow on the ground as of Sunday. Come Tuesday afternoon we had 21" of snow and I was walking home in snow that came to my ankles. When I came to snow drifts it was even deeper. Now most of the snow is gone but there's still a solid blanket covering the grass almost completely.
Also, yesterday we were outside putting on the roof on our new shed and we turned to find a deer standing in the middle of our back yard considering us. He/she loped away without a concern in the world and stopped when it got to a neighbors yard across the street.
ALSO, on the way home from school/work I heard a loon calling. I turned to look at the lake across the road from the school playground and saw there, circling in the water not far from shore, a loon. It was calling repeatedly to it's family. It was not the fear, call, or the call that they use to talk to babies, it was that long call followed by several short ones used to call to families or to communicate to loons on nearby lakes. It was amazing to hear and see a loon right in the middle of "town".
One the way home today I saw turkeys (which I see often), and a ruffed grouse.
To top it off last fall there was talk of a wolf being seen in a back yard in the middle of town.
Then, also included in our little 'ecosystem' are pigeons that live in the old community building/opera house only a block away from us, and seagulls that are flying around nearly all day. There's the lake in town, there's the woods outside of town, and only 5 miles away there's Ottawa National forest. Only 30 minutes away is Porcupine Mountains with Cloud lake and MANY large waterfalls stepping down on their way to Lake Superior.
Where else in the world can you find Loons, Pigeons, Wolves, Whitetail Deer, Turkeys, Turkey Vultures, Ruffed Grouse, Black Bear, Bald Eagles, Coyotes, Red Tailed Foxes, Piliated Woodpeckers (the largest woodpecker species), Porcupines, Quail, Mountains, Waterfalls (albeit 30 minutes away), Lakes, Forests and even Moose and Elk and they're all in our area. When it snows anywhere in Northern Wisconsin or the Upper Peninsula we always seem to get some too and we almost always get more than anywhere around within 15-20 miles of our township. There are over 500 Timber Wolves in the Upper Peninsula. This past fall our County held a predator season for Wolves and Coyotes.
It's facinating what wildlife we can find so close to home and yet we have all the basic necessities right here in town within walking distance. I LOVE IT!
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Comments
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Sounds nice. It has been around 100F here lately and I have to drive to 3 stores to get what I need each week. I miss living in the north.
Wait a minute... I thought you were from northern Wisconsin. I used to live in Ephraim. (Yes, it's Door County, but it's still Northern WI). Northern Wisconsin is cool. Now I find that you're from the UP. One, it's Michigan. Two, you can't even use the hand method of geographical identification. You yoopers are freaks! I take it all back.Posted 04-23-2009 at 10:06 PM by sapiens
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I moved
I used to be in Northern Wisconsin but in August of 2008 I moved with my daughter to the U.P. We're in Wakefield, MI now - The town is pratically a reincarnation of Mayberry. The Sherriff even still had one bubble light on top of the car instead of a strip.Posted 04-26-2009 at 03:01 PM by raeanna74
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